Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday launched an investigation into working conditions at Amazon.com Inc.’s warehouses, accusing the company of “corporate greed” and asking current and former workers, medical staff and others to help with the investigation by sharing their experiences.
The Vermont senator, who is chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and a longtime critic of the retail and internet giant, sent a 10-page letter to Amazon
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Chief Executive Andy Jassy to inform him of the investigation. He asked for information and data about injury rates, turnover, safety measures and more.
“The company’s quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year,” Sanders said in the letter.
The senator referred to several citations and fines the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued this year over working conditions at Amazon warehouses around the nation, as well as to an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and a study by a union coalition that found rates of serious injury among Amazon workers that were double those of other warehouse workers.
Sanders also brought attention to what he called the company’s greed: “If Amazon can afford to spend $6 billion on stock buybacks last year, it can afford to make sure that its warehouses are safe places to work.”
An Amazon worker said Tuesday in a statement that Congress should hold the company accountable.
“I want workers everywhere to know that Sen. Sanders’ investigation into safety at Amazon is happening because we have spoken up, marched, and even gone on strike over the need for lower rates and better safety standards,” said Jennifer Crane, a worker from St. Paul, Mo.
An Amazon spokesperson said Tuesday that the company is reviewing the senator’s letter, has invited Sanders to tour an Amazon facility and has appealed all the safety citations the senator mentioned in his letter.
“There will always be ways to improve, but we’re proud of the progress we’ve made, which includes a 23% reduction in recordable injuries across our U.S. operations since 2019,” company spokesperson Steve Kelly said, adding that Amazon has spent $1 billion on safety initiatives and programs in the past four years.
Amazon workers and others who want to share their experiences, including information about injuries, can fill out a form on the Senate committee’s website. The committee says submissions are confidential.
Sanders — who led a campaign in 2018 that prompted Amazon to raise its minimum wage — asked Jassy for a response to his letter by July 5.
The Senate committee earlier this year pressured another big corporation in a similar fashion. Sanders sent a letter to Starbucks Corp.
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and its former CEO, Howard Schultz, about the company’s handling of unionization efforts at its stores. Schultz then testified in front of the committee after Sanders threatened to subpoena him.
From the archives (March 2023): Howard Schultz tells Bernie Sanders that Starbucks ‘doesn’t need a union’
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